Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

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“Breaking up” with an innovation project is never easy, especially if it’s an initiative your team still believes in passionately. But when it’s clear that an idea isn’t going to pan out, perpetuating it can sap your organization’s innovation capacity and energy. Here’s how to end a project to produce a positive outcome:

o Compare the results to the goals. If you were clear from the beginning about what success will look like, you can collect data to assess whether the project is still on track.

o Acknowledge what else you could be doing. Don’t be afraid to admit there are other – possibly more worthwhile – projects your team and resources could be working on.

o Remind your team of what you’ve learned. A failed project isn’t necessarily a waste of time. If you found a useful vendor or learned how to run a certain type of experiment, you’ve gained valuable knowledge.

[I presume to add that a project is a “failure” only if nothing of value is learned from it.]

Adapted from “How to Break Up with an Innovation Project,” by Scott Anthony.

To check out that resource and join the discussion, please click here.

Also, you may wish to check out an anthology, Management Tips from Harvard Business Review, by clicking here.